Jiang Ruoyun's Secret

Jiang Caiyun was startled by the aura Lu Feng exuded. She actually felt a trace of envy and stirred emotion. Such a man was willing to become a servant—her resentment and jealousy toward Jiang Ruoyun deepened even further.

"I advise you to leave Jiang Ruoyun while you still can. Otherwise, you'll die a miserable death," Jiang Caiyun said bitterly before turning and leaving with the other young men and women.

After they had gone far away, Jiang Ruoyun looked at Lu Feng and questioned, "Why did you stop me from teaching her a lesson?"

Lu Feng smiled somewhat lazily. "Why bother caring about the mad ravings of people who have nothing to do with us? If you can't even endure this slander, how will you bear the heavy glory that awaits you in the future?" At the end, he casually uttered cold words. "If the day comes when they cross the line, just kill them."

Jiang Ruoyun froze. She had thought Lu Feng was timid and afraid, but now she realized that the reason he was so calm and unruffled was simply because they had not crossed his bottom line? He simply disdained to act?

She could not help feeling curious about the latter half of Lu Feng's words. She wanted to see what it would be like when someone truly crossed his bottom line. Was he really cowardly, or had he truly never regarded those people as worthy of his attention?

Jiang Ruoyun secretly glanced at Lu Feng's calm expression, then at the familiar clothes he wore. For a moment, she was dazed, as though she had seen that towering figure from her memories.

In her daze, Jiang Ruoyun seemed to feel an extremely deep sense of trust toward Lu Feng. Unable to stop herself, she said, "Can you do me a favor?" There was actually a hint of pleading in her voice.

"What favor?" Lu Feng asked in confusion.

"What is your current cultivation?"

Jiang Ruoyun came back to her senses and realized she had been somewhat abrupt. She did not immediately tell him what she needed help with.

"One Soul Realm," Lu Feng answered without hesitation.

"Oh." Jiang Ruoyun was somewhat disappointed, inwardly mocking her own earlier lapse. How had she thought of asking him for help?

"What's wrong? Is it much lower than yours?" Lu Feng sensed Jiang Ruoyun's low spirits. He could not quite see through her cultivation; it was as though a veil of mist protected her. Yet judging from the strength displayed in the whip strike she had used on Jiang Ren, she possessed at least fifty Stones of Strength, nearly the power of the Five-Souls Realm.

"I'm only at the Two Soul Realm as well. I only broke through by luck a few days ago," Jiang Ruoyun said with a smile.

A flicker of surprise crossed Lu Feng's face. "Two Soul Realm? How can someone at the Two Soul Realm possess nearly fifty Stones of Strength?"

It seemed this bargain master of his also had quite a few secrets.

Jiang Ruoyun shifted slightly and said regretfully, "Neither of us is strong enough. At the very least, you'll have to reach the Three Soul Realm before you can help me."

"Then I'll cultivate to the Three Soul Realm," Lu Feng said with a smile. Since waking up this time, he had sensed that the formations of two souls within his Life Soul had loosened. His confidence in connecting all seven souls had risen greatly as well.

Seeing his casual response, Jiang Ruoyun smiled gently. The path of Soul Cultivation was easier said than done.

Lu Feng knew Jiang Ruoyun's past, but Jiang Ruoyun did not know Lu Feng's. She did not know that he had once suffered grievous injuries and lost all his cultivation. It was no wonder she measured him through worldly eyes.

Jiang Ruoyun's talent in connecting all seven souls at the age of twelve was already extraordinary. Had her regression not happened, her cultivation talent alone would have been enough for her to make a name for herself throughout the Nine Heavens Ten Earths. Yet Lu Feng's talent was clearly far more monstrous.

"Xiao Rou, go replace the bedding with a new set for me," Jiang Ruoyun instructed. She had previously given her bedding to Lu Feng.

Xiao Rou nodded in agreement. Sharing a room with Young Miss last night had not allowed her to sleep very soundly. She took some money and left at once.

Yet to Lu Feng, this seemed rather abrupt, as though Jiang Ruoyun had deliberately sent Xiao Rou away.

Sure enough, Jiang Ruoyun's next words confirmed Lu Feng's guess.

"Compared to Xiao Rou, I trust you more. Perhaps it's because of the contract formation, or perhaps because you're an outsider and have no entanglements of interest with Jiang Manor," Jiang Ruoyun explained. From her words, Lu Feng could sense that she actually held some distrust toward Xiao Rou.

That made sense. When everyone around you mocked and shunned you, if a maid suddenly appeared and served you wholeheartedly without ever leaving your side, anyone would feel somewhat suspicious.

"I didn't actually regress from seven souls. Because of certain mishaps, I had no choice but to walk the path of connecting all seven souls again," Jiang Ruoyun said seriously. She did not explain some of the hidden details, nor was there any need to tell Lu Feng for now.

Lu Feng was not overly surprised. The vast world was full of wonders, and his own experiences were far stranger than this.

Jiang Ruoyun continued, "This isn't meaningless recultivation. It allows me to lay an even stronger foundation. I spent nearly six years contemplating this cultivation system. Now, every time I reconnect a soul, the power I gain is roughly three times that of an ordinary person."

Jiang Ruoyun's words left Lu Feng unable to help smiling bitterly after his surprise.

He gained only one-third of an ordinary person's strength upon connecting a soul, while Jiang Ruoyun gained three times as much. This gap was not as shallow as a difference of three and three; Lu Feng knew full well how terrifying the disparity was.

If she cultivated to the utmost limit, the power Jiang Ruoyun possessed might be beyond even the word terrifying.

This woman was clearly a monster-level existence. How was she the famed waste of Jiang Manor?

Lu Feng suddenly felt fortunate for those young men and women from before, whose cultivation had not exceeded the Four Soul Realm. If they had truly fought, Jiang Ruoyun could probably have sent them flying with a single punch.

"But was it worth spending six years to cultivate one soul?" Lu Feng asked. A solid foundation was important, but if six years could only be exchanged for one soul, it seemed rather uneconomical. After all, it would waste so many wonderful years of cultivation.

"No, no, no." Jiang Ruoyun shook her head and explained, "I told you already. During those first six years, I was undergoing Sudden Enlightenment and thinking things through. Once I comprehended it, truly cultivating and connecting the second soul took only a little over a month."

"A little over a month? Not only did you connect a soul, but your strength was tripled?!" Lu Feng was secretly shocked. Such talent was truly frightening. Though Jiang Ruoyun was already eighteen, she had not yet missed the best period for cultivation.

The Sky Profound Continent had two unwritten yet widely accepted rules: first, if a person had not awakened their Life Soul by eighteen, they would basically achieve nothing great in their lifetime; second, if a person had not connected all seven souls within their First Epoch, they would likewise achieve nothing great.

A year had four seasons, and a lifetime likewise had four epochs. An ordinary person lived for around a hundred years, and those hundred years were divided into four epochs. Each epoch lasted twenty-five years—in other words, the years before the age of twenty-five were the golden age of cultivation.

Clearly, neither Lu Feng nor Jiang Ruoyun had missed their period of cultivation potential. Both still possessed limitless possibilities to grow stronger.

Lu Feng wickedly imagined that Jiang Manor was actually driving out such a supremely talented woman, and the regretful expressions of those people surfaced in his mind.

"What kind of Soul Cultivation path do you practice?" Jiang Ruoyun asked as she looked at Lu Feng's somewhat slender figure.

"Formation Dao," Lu Feng answered without concealing it.

Upon hearing this, Jiang Ruoyun burst into laughter and muttered, "Formation Dao is generally something only women study. You're only at the One Soul Realm, so it's not too late to switch paths. How about learning Martial Dao with me?" Jiang Ruoyun invited.

Lu Feng waved his hand. "Since I have chosen Formation Dao, I will not change it."

Had it been Lu Feng from three years ago, when he had first encountered Formation Dao, he might have been tempted. But after learning the power of Formation Dao over the past three years, he had never wavered again.

"Then forget it. Since you insist on choosing Formation Dao, I'll protect you from now on," Jiang Ruoyun said seriously, patting her slightly developed chest. She looked especially mischievous and adorable.

Seeing her innocent, youthful appearance, Lu Feng could not help laughing. He teased, "So you want me to follow you forever?"

Jiang Ruoyun's face reddened, countless thoughts churning through her mind. She hurriedly changed the subject. "Right, what weapon do you use? I use a long whip. What about you?"

As she spoke, Jiang Ruoyun waved the pale pink long whip in her hand.

Lu Feng seemed stumped. Formation masters excelled at setting formations and usually rarely used weapons. Yet the image of Huo Gen drawing his bow and nocking an arrow surfaced in his mind, followed by the Netherworld Bow.

Lu Feng's heart suddenly trembled. He immediately turned his awareness inward toward the Kirin Ring on his wrist and searched through the storage spaces within its ninety-nine gemstones. At last, in the corner of the final space, he found the things he had been seeking.

The Netherworld Bow lay there quietly, but the Netherworld Beast Core had vanished. In its place were several books—upon closer inspection, they were rubbings of the archery diagrams from that Stone Chamber.

What was going on?

"Wasn't Worryfree Village supposed to be a village from a hundred years ago? Then how should all of this be explained?"

Lu Feng was utterly confused. What was real, and what was an illusion? If it was an illusion, then this bow and those arrows were plainly so real. But if it was real, why had Worryfree Village existed a hundred years ago?

"What are you thinking about?"

Jiang Ruoyun interrupted him. Then, as though recalling something, she suddenly smiled self-mockingly and said awkwardly, "I forgot. Formation masters seem not to use weapons..."

"Bow and arrows."

Before Jiang Ruoyun could finish, Lu Feng suddenly uttered those two words.

"Bow and arrows?" Jiang Ruoyun paused, unable to understand. "Aren't those for hunting? Who uses them as weapons? Besides, in battle, how many arrows can you even shoot?"

Because she did not understand them, Jiang Ruoyun held deep misconceptions about bows and arrows. In her eyes, they were not weapons of war but merely tools. This was also the view held by many people in this world.

But was that really so? Could bows and arrows truly not be used in battle?

Lu Feng smiled and nodded. Though he was still uncertain what exactly had happened with Worryfree Village, he could be certain that the archery skills he had learned there truly existed.

Jiang Ruoyun hesitated for a while before saying, "If you wanted a saber, spear, staff, or club, I could find one for you. But for bows and arrows, we'll probably have to buy them on the street. Perfect—I'm going into town tomorrow. Come with me."